Hope II - [Act 01 : Reperio per Moratlis]
by Anja
Summary: Reperio per Moratlis .. Discovery of Mortality (Coming to; Meetings; Plans for travel)


  
Hope II  
Act 01 : Reperio per Moratlis 

By Anja  
Disclaimer: Dragonball and all it's characters belong to Akira Toriyama. 

  
**Author's Notes:** First of all, each act's title is in Latin, but they're not all that accurate. I mean, most are okay, but some have a few flaws. So if you actually know how to speak latin, don't tear me to pieces. I know they're rough. -_-; Sorry 

This takes place about 8 years after the end of Dragonball Z (10 years after Majin Buu). So GT never happened (Thank Kami!).

As for questions asked in the prologue's reviews: _If they could blow up the moon at a power level of 1000, they should be able to hit the "eyes" from orbit. If they could see them they could shoot them._

Eh ^^; I forgot to mention that the eyes and drones worked in co-ordinated attacks. If you stayed still long enough to take a shot at an eye, you'd be blasted by a drone. They could actually cause quite a bit of damage. That's how most of the people were taken out.

=example= means a character is thinking

  


  


  


  


Bulma shook her head, sitting bolt upright at her computer as she sprung awake.

"Wha... what am I doing here? What's..." her eyes widended in surprise. "My machine... it worked! Hope II worked!" Screaming in joy, she jumped up and ran out of the room and down the hall. She screeched to halt in front of the kitchen, spotting her long dead mother inside. "MOMMA!" She screamed. Her mother turned around, unfazed and smiling.

"Yes honey? What is it?" she poured a cup of juice and held it out to her estatic daughter. Bulma ran up to her and hugged her with all her might, lifting the other female into the air and spinning her around.

"Oh Momma! Momma! I'm so glad to see you!" She put her down, kissing her mother's cheeks. Her mother's smile didn't waver, but she shook her finger at her daughter.

"I'm glad to see you too dear, but look! You got mango juice all over both of us. Dear, dear, we're going to have to get changed!" She put down the class and practically waltzed out of the kitchen. Bulma was oblivious to her exit, tears pouring down her cheeks as she looked over the kitchen, and then the living room, then out into the yard. All the old memories of peace and happiness came back, all the wonderful times she had had. As the wind blew her hair all over her face, Bulma reached her arms up to the sun. 

"Everything's going to be all right!"

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"Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh boy, Goku, that was so funny! Some tough guy, huh? You collapsed before I did! Just *splat* under that shell! Ha ha! I'm stronger than you after all!"

Goku looked up to see a small bald boy with a huge turtle shell on his back do a little dance, and promptly fall backwards onto the sand.

"Ah! Help! I can't roll over in this thing." Kuririn waved his arms and legs around and wailed his embarrasement. Goku, trapped underneath his own shell with the beginnings of a headache, started laughing at his friend's plight, but it tapered off when he remembered why he had fallen. He had just been running along when all of a sudden, hundreds of thousands of 'memories' had hit him like an out-of-control Kame Hame Ha.

"Oh WOW! It worked! It really worked! I don't believe it!" Goku stood up, slipped out of the shell and inspected himself. =Hmm, chibi arms, chibi legs, chibi hands...= he patted his head, little hands covering a lot less area than he remembered. =Chibi face too.= He smiled. "Heeheehee, I'm a chibi!" He put his hand behind his head and laughed, his whole face split in a huge grin, the type of laugh he hadn't indulged in for years and years. Kuririn stopped his frantic thrashing and looked at the other boy incredulously.

"Of course you're a chibi, baka! You're only 12! Or 13 or something! Now help me up!" he held out his hands. Goku, forgetting how competitive he and Kuririn had been as children, rushed to pull the monk to his feet.

"Oh, Kuririn, I really missed you." He patted the older boy's shoulder encouragingly.

"Huh?" Kuririn asked, one eyebrow raising almost to the top of his head. "You didn't even swing at me, how could you miss me?"

Goku stood in confused silence for several seconds before laughing.

"Gomen nasai! I didn't mean that, I meant... nevermind." He smiled sheepishly, but Kuririn was still eyeing him askance.

"Yeah, well... if you're done, we should probably get back to training. Unless you wanna sit there and laugh all day, in which case I'll get much faster than you and beat you!" He grinned, clenching his little fists. Goku grinned and picked up his shell.

"No, no. I'm gonna train too! This time harder than before! You can never be too powerful, you know." He told Kuririn with a wink. Kuririn blinked at him.

"Really? Why do you say that?"

Goku smiled thoughtfully. "I just have a hunch."

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The sound of heavy men, walking down the corridors in boots, soothed the Prince's hectic mind. A steady clicking, with no murmuring or other intruding noises. He sighed. Another failed fight against one of Frieza's personal infantry had put him in a very, very black mood. After Radditz and Nappa had picked him up from the medical lab, he had insisted that they go back to the prep room immediately and continue training. He had seen the looks on his two comrade's faces. He didn't care. He didn't care if they fell over dead from over-training, just as long as he survived. Survived and grew stronger. After all, that was what life was all abou... A flash of nausea struck the Prince and his hands flew to his head to control it.  
He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, and he couldn't think. It wasn't painful in a physical way, but mentally, it was pure trauma. Images of people he couldn't recognize and strange feelings washed over him and he struggled to breath. Was something wrong with his heart, his mind? He felt like he was going to burst from all the sudden and conflicting messages he was getting.

Hate. Rage. Happiness. Grief. Contendedness. Curiosity. Inferiority. Love. Annoyance.

Some things he knew well, others he had never realized existed, didn't even have names for. But as the feeling struck him, so did the notion of what he should call each emotion. Emotions. He needed to scream, but nothing came out when he opened his mouth. Suddenly there was a sharp stab of pain in his back. Then another. The instinct to survive and fight back rose to the surface and Vegeta struggled to gain control. He found himself on the floor. When had he fell? The pain came agiain and he leapt to his feet, then forward, not knowing where his attacker was. 

"Vegeta Ouji! Vegeta! What's wrong with you? Do you need to go back to the tank?" Heavy hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a rag doll. He raised his fist backwards over his shoulder and struck out behind him, relieved when he felt it come in contact with something solid.

"VEGETA OUJI!"

Something heavy cuffed his head and although he reeled slightly from the unexpected blow, the world slowly came back into focus, and with it thought. Standing in front of him was Nappa, crouched into a battle stance. Behind him, Radditz was holding his hand to his jaw and looking confused and angry at the same time. "What's wrong with you?" His mentor questioned him again. Vegeta shook his head.

"Nothing, baka!" He put his fingers to his forehead. =What... what is this? I am back in my younger body? Or did I travel through time at all? Did I just imagine everything?= He breathed in deeply and glared at the two men in front of him, men whose deaths he could easily recall. He coughed. It was almost funny, but the thought of laughing made him scowl. Laughter? He felt the urge to hit his head again. Who was he? A young Prince under Frieza's command, or an older and more experienced warrior, a Super Saiya-jin. He couldn't have imagined a life like that. He was not capable of that kind of imagination. Besides, why would he suddenly think of all those things now, in a corridor. If it was fake it would have been a dream. He put his back to the wall of the corridor and slid down until he was sitting, totally ignoring the other Saiyans.

"P...prince Vegeta?" Radditz's voice asked, sounding slightly unnerved at Vegeta's strange actions. =He's not going to drop dead right here in the hallway is he? I knew that idiot would kill himself if he kept training like a lunatic. I mean, I can understand training all night, or getting injured to heal... but getting injured and **then** training all night is going a little too far.= He cleared his throat. "Should we take you back to the medical lab, Ouji?"

The Prince's head snapped up.

=Ouji... it's been a long time. Heh. The onna's machine must have worked. I'm sure she's busy feeling full of herself right now.= He stood. "No, Ra..Radditz." He swallowed the other man's name bitterly. It was a real slap in the face to see two dead men... standing. And then it hit him... Frieza... Frieza was alive again too... and more powerful than him... and controlling him... =No! I won't be mocked and belittled again! I won't!!= He clenched his fists. Nappa's eyebrows drew together. "Vegeta Ouji, I think it would be best if we turned in now. We don't have another assignment for 78 hours, so you'll have plenty of time to train then." He reasoned. =Train yourself to the point of collapse. A true Saiyan, if a little obsessed.= He cocked his head to one side, waiting for Vegeta's answer.  
To his surprise, instead of refusal or insults, the eighteen-year-old nodded his head and stood, walking down the corridor the way they had come, to their quarters. As he and Radditz followed after, Nappa noticed with confusion that the Prince wasn't stalking or glowering as was his wont. Instead he was walking with an almost calm expression, his back straight and his shoulders back. He looked... regal. Nappa smiled inwardly. The Prince was getting more royal everyday. If his confidence was growing, his strength must be too. One day they would destroy Frieza and take over, as Vegeta had often told them he would. Nappa looked forward to it. No more pointless missions, and he would be able to kill a lot of people who had pissed him off through the years. This time his grin wasn't concealed, but he wiped it off as soon as he realized it was there. The last thing he needed was to get soft himself.

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Bulma sighed as the sea spray whipped through her hair and face. She had been hoping Goku would come to Capsule Corporation and find her, but no. He probably saw a chance to re-do and improve on his past training and couldn't past it up. The little baka.  
She was again surprised by her thoughts. The Goku she had known for so long wasn't little at all, but she had been repeatedly thinking of him that way. She had also noticed that she was acting more and more like a flippish young girl. She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she might like it. She had long thought of her mother as another woman, but she was now thinking of her again as Momma, someone to protect her, and the same with her father. She found herself going hot and melty if she saw a cute boy walk past her in the street, as had happened at several villages, and she felt much more objectionable. Like the whole world was trying to hold her back and it was her job to set it in it's place. Her head told her she was regressing back to the attitude of a teenager, and that it was probably just hormones, but she was fast adjusting to this incredible new rush of feelings, desires, and moods that had been long shut away by responsibility and maturity.  
She was almost scared to think about what state she would find Goku in.  
She reached the shore of the island she had spotted a while back and made the boat pull to a stop, beaching it. She knew there were people on this island who could push it back later. She jumped out, into the shallow water and waded to the beach, trudging through the sand with wet boots. It wasn't very far to the little house, red letters painted on the side. Kame House. Oh, even though most of her memories of this place were of get-togethers that ended in annoyance and outrage, she felt her heart waver, as it had been doing often recently. She took a deep breath and marched to the door, knocking on it sharply.  
The door opened to an old man, who's expression instantly changed from curiousity to happiness.

"Bulma!! Oh! My darling! What brings you here!" Kamesennin cried exultantly. Bulma glared at him. She had forgotten how recently the 'skirt incident' had occured, and that he must still be having fantasies about it.

"Push off, you filthly old man! I'm just here to see Son-kun!" As much as she... sort of... missed his eccentric perversion, she wasn't about to pander to him, otherwise he would think she wasn't totally averted to his ridiculous advances. He humphed at her and poked her leg with his stick. 

"That's no way to talk to your elders, my girl."

"First of all, I am _not_ your girl. Secondly, I don't care how old you are. Just means you've had more time to ferment. So tell me where Son-kun is and leave me alone!" She managed to stop herself from slapping him as his eyes slid back down to staring at her bust. "Oh, forget it! I'll find him myself!" She turned on her heel to search the island, but was stopped by a cry behind her.

"Wait!"

She turned.

"Goku is inside eating with Kuririn. If you can call it eating. He must be hollow inside to fit it all in." The old man said thoughtfully. Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling the truth, or is that just some excuse to get me into your house?" She eyed him warily. She remembered some of his 'tricks'. Kamesennin put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

"Oh, You can't think I would do something like that! Come on, I'll prove it. You can hear the noises those two make almost from here." He turned and walked inside, expecting her to follow. Bulma sighed.

=I hope Son-kun has retained some sense of responsibility, otherwise I'm going to have to escort a little boy on a trip into outerspace.= She stalked up to the door, stomped in, and slammed it shut behind her. The first thing she realized was the Kamesennin was right. Without the sound of wind, waves, and seagulls that had been outside, you could indeed hear a sound like a pack of wolves hungrily devouring a carcass. She walked towards the kitchen, not realizing she probably shouldn't know where it was.  
At first Goku didn't notice she was there, he was so engrossed in devouring a sandwich roll almost larger than he was. Kuririn was helping on the other end. Bulma smiled. 30 years from now and he wouldn't need help to polish that thing off; he'd have it gone in 20 seconds.

"Son-kun!" She put her hands on her hips and yelled out. Goku's head whirled around from his overstuffed delight, but when he saw it was her, turned back to eating.

"Mm..hi Bulfma," he mumbled. Bulma's mouth twisted and her eyes hardened.

"Goku!! Don't ignore me! You know why I'm here, and it's more important than food!" She crossed her arms and waited. Goku sighed and dropped the roll.

"I know Bulma, but it's lunch time!" He got off his stool and stretched. "So what are we doing first?" he asked. Bulma blinked at him. It was so weird to see him looking up at her, instead of down.

=I'll just have to adjust.= She shook her head. "Well, I've already built the Notifier for when we need to travel back, and tested it too. Unless it gets damaged, I can contact Gohan-kun in a second. Even if it does, I can re-build it," she pointed to what looked like a second watch on her left wrist. Goku nodded, with a look of understanding on his young face. "Now, we've got to go on a Dragonball hunt and wish ourselves a space ship!" Bulma said, turning her eyes into upwards half-cirles from happiness. Goku's face, on the other hand, fell.

"Uh... Bulma?" He asked, putting his hands behind his back sheepishly. Bulma's expression of delight didn't change, nor did she look down at him, but her tone changed to one of barely brooked annoyance.

"What Goku-kun? What's wrong now?" She asked, not noticing when she slipped into a very affectionate form of address.

"Well, you see... when I go on the Dragonball hunt, I meet this boy and he gets killed and I have to wish him back, and... " Goku quickly blurted in one breath, but Bulma cut him off.

"So what you're saying is, I can't use the Dragonballs and I'm gonna have to build an entire ship, with no parts, and no blueprints, entirely from memory. And of course, this will be _so_ easy, considering that the last spaceship I built or even piloted was over 20 YEARS AGO!!!" she screamed. Goku looked nervous, but not really scared, which did nothing to help her mood.

"Sorry Bulma. I just forgot that I needed the Dragonballs this year. Plus I have to fight the Red Ribbon army." He put a hand behind his head. Bulma's eye twitched.

"You mean I'm not even going to have contact with you?!?"

Goku nodded sheepishly. "I thought I'd finish them off for good this year, so that I don't have to worry about them getting the dragonballs." He smiled. Bulma sighed.

"Fine, fine. Just make sure you don't kill Dr.Gero. We wouldn't want to change history you know. Besides, he's a renowned scientist, and I'm pretty sure he makes some major advancements between now and then that the world needs." She gave him a cross look. "And don't forget, either! I don't want that as an excuse!" Bulma put her hands on her hips and leant down right into his face. "Understand?"

"H..hai Bulma!" Goku stammered. Bulma straightened back up like a shot.

"Good. Now, I better be going. I have a spaceship to build." She sneered at Goku, who just smiled at her.

"Good luck with it! I know your father will help you, and he might even forget he did it!"

Bulma sighed. "Not likely," She muttered under her breath.

"Um, guys..."

Both Goku and Bulma turned to the other inhabitant of the room, who they had totally forgotten. Kuririn was still sitting on a stool, his food forgotten and a look of confusion on his face. "What in Kami's name are you talking about?"

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Vegeta walked through the door to the portlock, stepping into the darkened room silently. This area went off-line for only a few hours every cycle, but he had plenty of time to do what he wanted. A whole afternoon spent re-learning his ki-sensing ability paid off. He knew no-one else was here, and he didn't need to worry about anyone sneaking up on him. He walked to another door, but had to wait for an moment while he was identified. Not that anyone would be checking the records... he wasn't planning on escape.  
He approached one of the regulation pods on a runway and ripped it's clamps off. Pressing a button on the outside, he moved out of the way as the door opened with an almost inaudible hiss. He reached into it, kneeling in the entrance to get at it's computers. He programmed a free-range course to Chikyuu. It would take longer to get there, but it wasn't going to be released properly and if it encountered trouble on the way there would be no-one inside to reset the course. A free-range meant the computer compassed itself to the destination, instead of going on a pre-plotted route. It would constantly have to re-direct itself and take the long way round, but it would get there for sure as long as it wasn't destroyed.  
He got back to his feet, and sharply pressed a green button inside the pod, slamming the door shut in the same instant. It's engines flared to life and it moved down the runway, stopping when it ran into the door. Vegeta leapt out of the way so that he didn't get burned, then quickly left the room. He walked back to the console and flicked his fingers over the buttons. The hatch directly in front of the ship opened, and it shot out into space. All the air was sucked out of the room with an almost violent force, but all the other pods, safely clamped, stayed put. He smirked as the door to the vacuum outside slowly closed again. The broken clamps would confuse the soldiers who were next on duty, but there was no possible way for anyone to have gotten away without an accomplice, and the door only registered one person entering the room, and he left as well. Not an escapee.  
Vegeta watched the pod flying off on a viewscreen. He smiled and pressed his fingers to the screen.

"It's only one, but maybe you can do something with it, ne Buruma?" He got up from the console, switching everything off again and exited the room with as much silence and grace as he had used entering it.

  


  


  


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I'm sure I've got some kind of plot hole in this chapter, I did it in so many different sessions. I think I got a little out-of-whack. I can't pin my finger on one though, so hopefully I haven't really. I would love if people responded, because I have other stories I can write if people aren't really interested in this one. ^^


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